Norristown man faces murder, robbery charges in death of father of four

Authorities in Montgomery County have arrested a 20-year-old Norristown man in the robbery and killing of a 22-year-old father of four on Powell Street Dec. 10, police said.

Detectives charged Stanley Howard, of the 1300 block of DeKalb Street, with murder, robbery and other offenses in the fatal shooting of Jamal Terry, also of DeKalb Street in Norristown.

Terry was shot even though he had readily given up his money, investigators said.

Police were seeking Howard's alleged accomplice, Shawn Omar (T. O.) Jacobs, who police said was the trigger man in the incident.

The murder happened at 11 p.m. as Terry and a friend left the Golden Dragon restaurant at Spruce Street and Powell Avenue in Norristown.

According to court papers, Howard and Jacobs, 18, of the 2100 block of N. Woodstock Street, Philadelphia, confronted Terry and the friend and demanded money.

Terry said, "Go ahead, you can have it," and gave Jacobs $30, while the unidentified friend begged for their lives, police said.

"I got a kid. He's got four," the friend pleaded, according to the records. But Jacobs fired one shot into Terry's neck, police said. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman characterized the crime as a "thrill killing." "It is one of the worst we have ever seen. So cold-blooded, so evil," she said.

Howard was being held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Lower Providence Township following arraignment yesterday before District Justice Francis J. Lawrence Jr.

Police tracked Howard through the bullet recovered from Terry's body. Ballistics tests showed it matched a copper 9mm bullet casing from a Kel-Tec 9mm pistol that was fired into a car Dec. 7 during a robbery on W. Lafayette Street in Norristown.

The semiautomatic pistol was recovered Dec. 13, when Norristown officers seeking Howard and Jacobs investigated a white Chevrolet Lumina parked in the 200 block of Chain Street, Ferman said.

Jacobs fled, dropping the weapon; Howard was taken into custody and later admitted his role in the robbery and murder, Ferman said.

Terry was described by his mother as a loving father who stayed home with his four kids while his fiancee, Natasha Benn, 25, worked. The children are age 4, 2, 1 and 10 months.

Michelle Terry, 39, of Upper Darby, said her son aspired to create his own clothing line. "He was all about fashion," she said.

Terry called her son's murder "ruthless," but said her faith had helped her cope.

"God just called one of his soldiers home," she said. "I'm not angry with this guy; he is going to get what he deserves. It's not up to me to judge him."